This past weekend, the Fort St. John AAA Safety U13 hockey team went to Grande Prairie to play in the annual U13 Recreation GP tournament.
The tournament started on Friday with AAA Safety playing against GP Pembina Pipeline and Fort St. John coming out with a 4-1 win, with goals from Marc MacGillivray, Paige Bueckert, Nash Eldridge, and Ryland Bock.
Saturday afternoon, AAA Safety played GP Corrosion Sampling with AAA Safety walking away with a 11-2 win, with goals from Ryland Bock (5), Nic Ellerington (2), Paige Bueckert, Marc McGillivray, Lukas Lawerence, and Nash Eldridge.
Saturday night, they were back at the rink for a game against GP Pomeroy Lodging. GP came out fast and aggressive, putting two quick goals on the board. It wasn’t until the end of the second period that Blake Bennett took the puck end-to-end to score Fort St. John’s first goal of the game to end the second period. Going into the third 2-1 for GP, Ryland Bock scored the team’s second goal, tying the game 2-2 where it stayed and earning the team a spot for the gold medal game against Dawson Creek Ceda.
Sunday afternoon, AAA Safety played Dawson Creek Ceda. The first period had a lot of back and forth, a ton of shots by both teams, and just as many saves by each goalie! In the second period, Dawson Creek opened the score and then followed with another goal shortly after, leaving the game 2-0 Dawson.
It wasn’t until halfway through the second that Grady Collins put Fort St. John on the board with a quick wrist shot, followed by Nash Eldridge and his one-time shot from the blue line making the game 2-2.
Halfway into the third, Grady Collins scored his second of the game followed by a hard shot off the point by Nash Eldridge with Kade Forest being in front of the net to tip it past the goalkeeper, ending the gold medal game 4-2 for AAA Safety.
This is the first time a Fort St. John team has won this tournament. The team will have their team name engraved on the trophy that will stay in Grande Prairie. It was an exciting and fantastic weekend from start to finish for the team! The team would like to thank Eldridge Inspection Inc. for sponsoring the team entry fee.
